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YPSILANTI, MI ­ Senior forward Robert Brown (Detroit, MI/Oak Park) scored a game-high 19 points in his homecoming to lead the University at Buffalo men's basketball team to a 70-51 victory at Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night. The win was Buffalo's first Mid-American Conference road victory since joining the MAC at the start of the 1998 season, snapping a string of 27 straight games in which the Bulls finished on the losing end.

Buffalo (7-5 overall) now sits on top of the MAC standings with a 2-0 mark after defeating Akron by 19 points earlier this year. In addition, the back-to-back conference wins for UB are a first since Buffalo defeated Akron and Western Michigan at home during the 1999-2000 season.

Robert Brown

Eastern Michigan (4-8, 0-1 MAC) started the game hitting eight of its first 10 shots from the field to take a 22-14 lead 7:41 into the contest. However, the Bulls' defense tightened up and held Eastern Michigan to just 1-of-11 from the field the rest of the half. Offensively during that span of 12:19, Buffalo used a complete team effort to put together a 22-5 run. Six different players connected on a field goal during the run and eleven different players saw at least four minutes of action in the first half as Buffalo held a nine point advantage at the break.

In the second half, Eastern Michigan converted on four straight possessions in a two-minute stretch to pull within five points earlier in the half but that was the closest they would get the rest of the game as Buffalo slammed the door shut with a quick 7-0 run beginning with a three-point play by Brown as he converted the free throw shot after getting fouled on a layup. The senior then dunked a pass by freshman Daniel Gilbert (Detroit, MI/Cass Technical) on Buffalo's next possession which was followed by senior Louis Campbell (Rahway, NJ/Rahway) scoring two of his 10 points on the game. The Bulls continued to actively substitute to wear down Eastern Michigan the rest of the half and eventually took their largest lead on the games final basket with 1:54 left. All 13 healthy players saw action for UB with 10 of them scoring two or more points.

"It's great to win on the road," said Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon. "It is so difficult to win on the road in our conference and it's great to be able to come in and get one. I think now our guys know what we are capable of and they have an expectation that we can win on the road."

Freshman Turner Battle (Kernersville, NC/East Forsyth) finished with 11 points, freshman Jason Bird (Ypsilanti, MI/Ypsilanti) had eight points, junior Davis Lawrence (Brooklyn, NY/New Utrecht) scored six points and Gilbert recorded three points to go with five rebounds.

Buffalo held Eastern Michigan's top scoring threat, Ricky Cottrill, to a season-low eight points. Cottrill came into the game ranked third in the MAC in scoring, averaging 20.2 points per game.

The Bulls controlled the boards on both ends of the floor, holding a 41-27 advantage in the game. Senior forward Darcel Williams (Buffalo, NY/Traditional) grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds (10 of those came on the defensive end) while adding seven points.

Buffalo will remain on the road for a meeting at Northern Illinois on Saturday, January 5 (3:05 p.m. EST), before returning home to host Kent State (Wednesday, January 9), Bowling Green (Saturday, January 12) and Ohio (Tuesday, January 15) in three straight conference games.